THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
PARTICULARS OF APPOINTMENT
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING & PHYSICAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY
ORGANIC CHEMISTRY GROUP
Lecturer in Organic Chemistry
Vacancy ref: EPS-07477
Starting salary:
Probation:
Duration:
Based at:
Responsible to:
£38,896 to £47,801 per annum
4 years
Available immediately - permanent
The University of Manchester
Professor David Leigh FRS
Sir Samuel Hall Professor of Chemistry
JOB DESCRIPTION
The School of Chemistry is one of the largest and most successful in the UK, and the Organic
Section has recently been strengthened by the appointments of Professor Igor Larrosa and
Lecturers Dr Daniele Leonori, Dr Anthony Green and Dr Guillaume De Bo. To further increase the
strength of the School, we wish to appoint another outstanding Lecturer in the area of Organic
Chemistry. The Lecturer in Organic Chemistry will be based in the School of Chemistry on
Brunswick Street or the Manchester Institute for Biotechnology (MIB) on Sackville Street. You
should have the ability to teach all aspects of core organic chemistry.
Main responsibilities
• To deliver world-class and ideally world-leading research in Organic Chemistry (broadly
defined), as judged by high quality publications and patents and by a significant research
income.
• To deliver outstanding teaching and learning to our undergraduate and postgraduate
students, through lectures, small group teaching and laboratory classes, through supervision
of individual and group research projects, and through web-based learning.
• To contribute to the efficient management of the School, helping to maintain and grow the
collegiate and supportive atmosphere we have established.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Essential Knowledge, skills and experience
• PhD degree (or equivalent) and postdoctoral experience in an area of organic chemistry
(broadly defined) that complements the organic section’s current interests.
• Outstanding research ability in organic chemistry.
• Track record of high quality publications in organic chemistry.
• Recent experience of working in different research environments.
• Ability to teach all aspects of core organic chemistry.
• Ability to develop and grow a research portfolio of original and exciting ideas in organic
chemistry (broadly defined) that complements the organic section’s current interests.
• Ability to obtain external funding to support research activities, drawing money from a range
of sources including research councils, industry and international organisations.
• Ability to develop an international profile in the field of organic chemistry, and the potential to
become a world-leading researcher in the area.
• Ability to develop collaborations across the University, as well as externally with national and
international researchers, as appropriate, to advance research.
• Willingness to become an excellent and committed teacher of chemistry, showing
adaptability and imagination in designing and delivering excellent chemistry teaching using a
range of media.
• Commitment to working in a collegial and supportive way to maximise the performance of the
School of Chemistry.
• Willingness to maintain a safe working environment for themselves and students at all times.
• Good organisational and communication skills.
• The experience and proven ability to supervise and train postgraduate students and final
year undergraduate masters students in laboratory work, including training in laboratory
procedures and in safe working.
• Commitment to develop and further the careers of members of their research groups.
Desirable
• Track record of obtaining funding to support their research activity (for more experienced
candidates).
• The experience and proven ability to supervise and train PhD and postdoctoral workers (for
more experienced candidates).
• Proven ability to conceive, undertake and direct independent research.
• Evidence of successful interdisciplinary and / or multidisciplinary research experience.
• Experience of chemistry teaching.
FURTHER INFORMATION
The University of Manchester is Britain’s largest and most popular university, with a distinguished
history of academic achievement and an ambitious agenda for the future. The University, with
income in excess of £780 million, has four Nobel Prize winners amongst its current academic staff,
and has embarked on an exciting and bold course which aims to make us one of the top 25
universities in the world, as set out in the University’s strategic vision for 2020.
The University of Manchester was established in 1824, bringing together The Victoria University of
Manchester and UMIST to form The University of Manchester. It has an excellent track record in
research, as demonstrated by its outstanding performance in REF2014, and exemplified by the
award of two Nobel prizes in physics in 2010.
The Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences is large and comprehensive, with nine
component schools:
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Chemical Engineering & Analytical Sciences
Chemistry
Computer Science
Earth, Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences
Electrical & Electronic Engineering
Materials
Mathematics
Mechanical, Aerospace & Civil Engineering
Physics & Astronomy
Together with four research institutes (Manchester Institute for Biotechnology, Dalton Nuclear
Institute and Photon Science Institute, as well as the newly-established University of Manchester
Aerospace Research Institute (UMARI)), the Faculty represents a diverse portfolio of research and
teaching of the highest quality.
Many of the major advances of the 20th century began here, including the work by Rutherford
leading to the splitting of the atom and the development of the world’s first modern computer.
Today, research activities remain at the cutting-edge and the Faculty now generates more than a
third of the total research income for the University.
The School of Chemistry (http://www.chemistry.manchester.ac.uk/) at the University of
Manchester is one of the most important departments in the UK, with 65 academic staff, 60 support
staff, 145 post-doctoral research associates, 330 postgraduate students, 700 undergraduate
students with an annual intake of around 200. Our current research grants total approximately £43
million, making us the 4th highest earning Chemistry Department in the UK. The School has
strength both in core and in interdisciplinary research. Members of the academic staff have
received numerous national and international prizes and awards, including 10 Royal Society of
Chemistry (RSC) medals and prizes in the last five years. The School has been awarded an
Athena Swan Silver Award.
As the second-largest chemistry department in the UK, the School of Chemistry continues
Manchester’s long and distinguished history of chemical innovation, from the birth of modern
chemistry with John Dalton, through to recent Nobel Prize winners and Manchester students John
Polanyi and Michael Smith. It has comprehensive academic coverage across the chemical
sciences, and excellence in depth in all core sub-disciplines of chemistry.
The School has the full range of analytical facilities required to support internationally renowned
research. The NMR service has 13 spectrometers, ranging from a 200 MHz machine dedicated to
undergraduate teaching through to a recently purchased liquid helium-cooled cryoprobe, highsensitivity 600 MHz instrument. There are also instruments dedicated to radioactive samples and
to solids.
The X-Ray diffraction service has 7 instruments, including current best specification SAXS/GISAXS
and two single crystal diffractometers, all purchased within the last 3 years.
Mass Spectrometry has a full complement of 7 machines to support all aspects of synthetic
chemistry and is supported by a dedicated HPLC/GC service.
There is also a full microanalysis service with recently purchased CHN, ICP, Halide analysis and
TGA.
The School has four AFM's now allowing dynamic scanning under liquid and also electrochemical
scanning; one desktop TEM/SEM with resolution down to 2nm and a FEI SEM with resolution
better than 2 nm which is equipped with lithography capability.
The School also boasts fully equipped and staffed electronic and mechanical workshops and a
dedicated scientific glass blower.
The School’s research is currently organised under five groupings (Analytical and Physical
Methods, Chemical Biology, Materials Chemistry, Nuclear and Radiochemistry, and Synthesis) that
address four main challenges (Energy and the Environment, Life and Health, New Technologies,
and Sustainability). Many members of staff belong to more than one of the five groupings, as well
as to the Manchester Institute for Biotechnology, Photon Science Institute and the Dalton Institute.
There are also close collaborations with other Schools in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical
Sciences and with Schools in other Faculties.
The Manchester Institute of Biotechnology (MIB) (http://www.mib.ac.uk/) is a purpose-built
research institute that brings together 50 PIs (400 researchers) from across physical, biological and
medical sciences to address contemporary challenges in healthcare, energy, food security and
development of novel industrial biotechnologies. MIBs interdisciplinary biotechnological and
biomedical research is supported by state-of-the-art laboratories and facilities including:
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Biomolecular NMR (800, 600 & 500 MHz)
Bionanotechnology / Imaging (AFMs, TIRFM, FCS & FACS)
Protein expression and crystallography facilities
The Michael Barber Centre for Mass Spectrometry (biological MS)
Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) imaging
Currently 12 academic staff from the School are based in the MIB, which provides an ideal and
unique environment for their research at the Chemistry-Biology interface.